


Pandora Dark

by AvecPardon



Series: Corruption of Minecraftia [4]
Category: Dream Team - Fandom
Genre: Awesamdude (Minecraft Avatar), Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, DreamSMP related, DreamXD (Minecraft Avatar), Gen, GeorgeNotFound (Minecraft Avatar) - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prison setting, Realistic Minecraft, Sapnap (Minecraft Avatar) - Freeform, Technoblade (Minecraft Avatar) - Freeform, Tommy-centric, but still treated as a game, game mechanics, minecraft dungeons, minor appearances by - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:48:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29775042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvecPardon/pseuds/AvecPardon
Summary: The day TommyInnit is locked in with Dream in the inescapable Pandora's Vault was supposed to end with a successful wrap up of the roleplay session, ready to progress the plot of DreamSMP. But Minecraftia appears to have other plans. The sentient awareness of the world of Living Avatars is fickle in regards to Dream's life, and could strive to end it on a whim.This whim seizes control of Pandora's Vault and seals both Dream and Tommy within, converting the Vanilla prison into a sprawling Dungeon. When Tommy's careless actions lead to Dream being captured and taken deeper into the Dungeon, Tommy has to traverse unfamiliar paths and rooms on his own to face whatever boss lurks in the heart of Pandora Dark.
Series: Corruption of Minecraftia [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2174448
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place in the future of the Corruption of Minecraftia timeline, some time after 50 Prompts ends. Some events are referenced that have yet to occur in the main story. This is also a first attempt at writing for TommyInnit the Avatar, who takes a lot of personality cues from his Player. I hope I get his 'voice' decently.
> 
> Find me brainrotting about stuff and RTing art and stories from other folks in the Dream and MCYT fandom on twitter at [@AvecPardon](https://twitter.com/AvecPardon)

* * *

_[TommyInnit has left the game.]_

_[Dream has left the game.]_

Light returned to both pairs of eyes as their Players logged out and left them behind in the obsidian box. As soon as he felt the numbness in his limbs fade, Dream took a short leap backwards, holding up his arms defensively as a punch was thrown his way by the younger blonde still caught up in the intensity of the roleplay scene, panicking as the acting and reality failed to fully separate in time. Tommy pressed forward, eyes wide and lashing out in silence, forcing Dream to take more steps back as the hits landed against his arms.

"The scene's over, you're not going to be harmed," he said in a soft voice between flinches of pain. "I'm not that Dream, I'm not going to hurt you, the story is done for the day, wake up, Tommy, _please_!" He crouched in place when he hit the far wall, breathing a sigh of relief that at least he had drawn the other blonde away from the lava. He made himself as small and quiet as he could, holding his arms up to block the punches and kept talking. "Your Player did such a great job pretending today, Tommy. He did _really_ good at acting out his part. Did my Player do a good job too? He must have done it too good, if you're still scared. I'll talk to him about it, I promise; there's no fun in pretending if it hurts you for real."

The rate of punches slowed, then stopped, and Tommy breathed hard, blinking rapidly and shaking his head. "Wh-what? Pretend.. oh, fuck.. the RP," he murmured, stepping back and rubbing at his head, "Did I.. get the wrong information saved again?"

Dream peeked around his arms. "Seems like it. You're done punching me?" he asked quietly and Tommy gave him an alarmed look, taking another step back in reaction.

"Ack! Oh my god, was I really beatin' the shit out of you?! Sorry, sorry! I know I joke I'll beat you in Minecraftia, but I didn't mean _literally_!" he exclaimed and held out a hand to help Dream stand. "Off topic but how many hearts did I take out?"

"Four, but only because I'm not armored and my regen stopped at some point," the Anti-Viral replied, accepting the help. "Are **you** okay? Really?" Tommy nodded and Dream grinned. "Good. But you keep losing track of when the roleplay ends so maybe we should get you some help with that..."

"I don't need therapy!" Tommy protested, as he expected. Right on cue. Dream sighed and shook his head. "I'm fine! I can keep acting! Look, I'll be the greatest actor to ever act!" Tommy coughed exaggeratedly into one fist, then dramatically pointed at the green-clad Avatar. "Dream! You great, green, evil bastard! You will **never** break **me** , the hero of the story! And you will **never** escape _Pandora's Vault_!" he declared at the top of his lungs.

"That's called try-harding," Dream told him flatly, then looked past him at the lava with a worried expression. "Why hasn't Awesam lowered the lava already so we can get out until the next session?" He swept a hand aside, bringing up a chat screen and typing into it. "He's got that one call integration code applied, right? Let's see if I can get him into a group call."

"Oh! Add me too!" Tommy told him cheerfully, hopping closer to read the screen with him. "Add me, Dream, _aaaaadd_ me~! You know you want to~!" He grinned widely when Dream sighed and sent the invite to him as well, opening his own screen to type out the acceptance. Both Avatars tapped at an ear to activate the call function. "Awesam! Big man! Where are you?! Let us out!" he greeted loudly.

 _"Dream? Tommy? You're both still in there?"_ the Creeper King asked incredulously. The two blondes glanced at each other in concern.

"Yeah, you never let down the lava to let us out after our Players logged out," Dream replied slowly. "That whole 'lock Tommy in for a week cuz of security issues' thing is roleplay. Those explosions _were_ sound effects.. right?"

 _"Um.. hang on,"_ Awesamdude replied and went silent as he investigated.

Dream took out one of the raw potatoes and brought his mask down to scan for the code, altering the tags to make it baked. He munched on it while waiting, flexing one hand to work out the soreness in his arm as regen kicked in and started healing the bruises inflicted by Tommy's punches. Tommy tugged on his sleeve, holding up the few potatoes he'd been given during the roleplay session and flashing his eyebrows a few times. Dream rolled his eyes but touched fingers to the potato stack and applied the same tag changes.

"Thanks!" the younger Avatar exclaimed and happily ate the cooked food as they waited together.

The building shuddered suddenly and Dream looked up in wary concern, brows furrowing together as the mask scanned over the mix of obsidian and crying obsidian above his head, seeking information past the layers but unable to see beyond the obsidian. Tommy looked around with him, cheeks stuffed with baked potato. Another shudder, the lava rippled, taking on a glowy smokey haze that spilled across the floor of the cell room entrance, stopping just shy of the row of netherite blocks that acted as a barrier when pulled up.

"Tommy, get behind me," Dream growled softly, stepping forward as the younger Avatar ducked around him to take shelter. While the lava didn't spill inside -yet, his traitorous mind chipped in-, the change in its behavior made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. "Keep calling for Awesam, I'm checking this out," he added over his shoulder. "Stay close to the back wall."

"Yeah, sure, sure," Tommy said shakily, stepping back hurriedly and sitting on the single chest in the furthest corner, hiding by the lectern. "Don't catch fire; I think that water over there's filthy and full of germs and parasites." He waited until Dream nodded to acknowledge him, then turned his attention to the call. "Awesam! How goes it out there? Can you get us out yet? The prison's acting funny!"

 _"The redstone's damaged, and something's taken over the prison mechanics!"_ Awesamdude replied in a stunned tone. _"I can't get control back, it's not responding to any of my buttons and switches!"_

Dream ran his fingers through the haze, crouched by the wall of lava that kept him and Tommy cut off from the exit. The glowing orange smoke roiled over the obsidian floor and around his knee and ankles, wispy and soft. This sort of haze he'd seen before, misting above the Nether's lava oceans in some places where Minecraftia let the rules of Minecraft Dungeons run loose.

"Dream! Awesam says he doesn't have control of the prison anymore! Something else took over the mechanics!" Tommy called out to him in a voice cracking with panic.

"Yeah, I think Minecraftia did," the older Avatar muttered, flicking wisps of haze from his fingers as he stood back up, staring into the wall of lava as it rippled and flowed downward endlessly.

A warm glow cast over him from it, the haze building up and drifting around his legs in sinewy whorls. The gleaming yellows and oranges and reds warped and mixed and swirled around themselves in the cascade in mesmerizing patterns. For a moment, it looked as though a face formed in the wall. Dream's mouth opened with a silent gasp of wonder, reaching out to-

Tommy's hand came out of nowhere, grabbing Dream's wrist and pulling him forcefully away from the lava, a grim look on his youthful face. "You're not allowed near lava anymore," he told the older Avatar in a low tone, quiet, even, and fierce. "Not without Clay logged in."

"I wasn't.. Tommy, I..." Dream stammered out in confusion, glancing back at the curtain of molten liquid even as he tried to keep his focus on the other blonde. His steps were hesitant as he was led away, stumbling as he tried to turn back. "I just.. there was something in there, didn't you see? I saw.. I don't know, I saw.. something..."

"You're not allowed near lava!" Tommy yelled in frustration and Dream immediately turned his attention to the younger Avatar, taking in his red face and barely held back tears. "I **know** what lava does to you; I've heard the stories. How many levels do you have? Right now?"

"Um.. fifty-ish," Dream replied hesitantly.

"Show me," Tommy insisted, tugging on Dream's wrist to keep pulling him away from the orange glow surrounding the cell exit with its ethereally hellish mist. The older Avatar sighed and swept open a screen, typing a command into it.

_[Dream Status Screen Access granted to: TommyInnit.]_

"Thank you," Tommy muttered, making a pulling motion at Dream with his fingers to draw out the older Avatar's screen to look at his physical condition, heart meter, hunger meter, hotbar, and experience meter. The number fifty sat on the partially filled green line hovering over the hotbar, and Tommy nodded in satisfaction. "Okay, you've got plenty of levels to pay for a few respawns, but as long as we're stuck in here, I don't want to see this number drop, okay, big man? You pickin' up what I'm puttin' down here?" he told Dream, poking at his chest with each question. He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, looking askance at the lava with a mulish expression.

"I don't want to see you throw yourself into that stuff as an 'escape'. Roleplay Dream wouldn't let Roleplay Tommy escape life that way," Tommy spoke seriously and turned his gaze to the masked Avatar, "and I'm not letting you do the same here. Now, take off the mask so I can keep a better eye on you."

"What?" Dream asked incredulously, attempting to step back and halted only by the fact that the younger Avatar still hadn't let go of his wrist.

"You heard me. Mask. Off. Now." Tommy lifted his chin in a huff, jerking a thumb towards himself. " **I'm** the one with power here now, bucko, which means **you** do what I tell you and I'm tellin' you to take off the mask."

Dream tilted his head, the mask showing a puzzled expression over its eternal smile, his actual mouth twitching between a frown and a smile. "Um, Tommy, I can't actually take it off completely or I risk going into a Viral state," he explained but tapped at the mask to collapse it into its alternate form of goggles that he then pushed up to the top of his head. "Better?" he asked, blinking at the younger Avatar.

"I guess it'll do," Tommy declared imperiously, letting him go to fold both arms over his chest. "Now I'm laying down some ground rules, okay? These are the Laws of Big Innit Tommy! Unbreakable laws, punishable by.. uh, lots of subs if broken!" he added loudly, taking large steps around Dream to place himself between the older Avatar and the lava wall. Dream moved with him, allowing himself to be separated further from the lava, a small smile on his face as though understanding what his young friend was trying to do. "Rule numero uno! Whatever _TommyInnit_ , that's me, says, goes! I'm large and in charge! Rule two! No going near the lava without **my** permission! And right now, **no one** has permission to go near the lava!" He put his fists on his hips and puffed his chest up. "And rule three! _Dream_ , that's you, has to gift _Tommy_ , that's my Player, one hundred subs for saving his life!"

"I dunno about the last one," Dream began with a softly fond laugh, "but I'll agree to the other rules until we're rescued. Though, yeah, you.. you did kinda save me there." He reached out and pat Tommy on the shoulder. "Thank you. You're a good friend."

"Course I am," Tommy agreed proudly, "I've got good friends to learn from."

-Hour 5-

They sat on the floor, side by side, staring at the item framed clock that Dream had moved to the back wall. They watched time tick by, the little day/night images slowly moving bit by bit. While Dream sat up in a relaxed and meditative pose, one hand rhythmically tapping the clock to turn it around and around in the frame, Tommy slumped in a bored and frustrated posture, giving the spinning clock a baleful glare.

"Is this all you do when you're in here, waiting for someone to come do lore with you?" he asked grumpily.

"Yeah. It's kinda therapeutic," Dream replied quietly, mouth quirking up a bit in a tiny smile. "No matter what chaos goes on around it, time keeps moving forward. And if time can keep moving forward, then maybe I can too. One day at a time." Tommy tilted his head, watching him.

"Is that something your therapist said?" he asked and Dream nodded. "Hey, you can mess with like block code and stuff, and hack stuff in Minecraftia," Tommy began, ignoring how Dream's eyes went to half-mast, mouth pursed into a thin line of irritation, "so can't you just hack us out of here by messing with the obsi-?"

"I don't **hack** Minecraftia," Dream growled under his breath, "I alter block and item data and NBT tags and write scripts and functions like any coder for plugins can do, just in real-time, and that's it. They're not hacks or cheats; it's just a skill the stupid virus activated in me."

Tommy stared at him with wide eyes, blinking slowly a few times. "So can you do that to get us out of here?" he repeated.

"Not really. I can only shift tags to something of the same category while I'm like this, not Viral," Dream answered, leaving the clock alone and flicking his hand to a baked potato. "Like the raw potatoes we got at the start of the session? I could only change them to be baked potatoes or a different raw food item. I can't turn it into a potion or a weapon cuz it's not the same category." He pointed at his eyes. "When I'm in the Controlled Viral state, I can change the categories of items and blocks and modify Avatar code in close range to myself, and in Feral Viral state, I basically change whatever biome I'm in into the End dimension."

"Then get all Viral and get us out of here!" Tommy declared, "Remember rule numero uno!"

"I would but that'd end up destroying Pandora's Vault and I can't do that to Awesam and Sam's hard work," Dream refused with a shake of his head. Tommy groaned, dropping his head back and slouching further. "I'm sure our friends are coming for us. They're good at clearing dungeons."

"Can you put us in Spectator Mode so we can just fly out?" the younger Avatar asked with a pout, "That won't mess up anything and you won't need to be Viral or anything." Dream gave him a weak smile.

"Yeah, that would be perfect, except for the fact that I'm technically not Sysop, so I can't change our modes like that," he pointed out. "Remember? I gave that rank and all its power to DreamXD to keep him safe and create a balance of power between us. Me as the Anti-Viral Avatar, and him as the Overseer of the DreamSMP upper server that acts as Minecraftia's anchor."

"So.. you made him God to keep all that extra power away from yourself," Tommy muttered and scratched his head. "Then we probably should be trying to contact DreamXD to get us out?"

"Well yeah, except for I've been trying at different times and I'm kind of thinking he's ignoring me," Dream told him with a sigh of exasperation. "He's been trying for ages to find a way to keep me 'out of harm's way', and he probably thinks me being locked up for real inside this prison is the perfect way to keep me safe," he complained, sweeping fingers aside to open his chat window and then flicking it over to Tommy to read. "Take a look."

"Huh. _'Dream to DreamXD: Hey, me and Tommy are stuck inside the obsidian cell in Pandora's Vault. Come get us out. DreamXD to Dream: Oh, perfect. You're safe and sound and I didn't have to do anything. Call me in a week..._ ' DreamXD is a right little asshole, isn't he?" Tommy said suddenly after finishing reading the messages under his breath.

"And people assume I inherited that from Clay," Dream grumbled, arms folded over his chest, "Nope. My twin got all that and that 'butter won't melt in my mouth' look to him that makes everyone think whatever fucked up thing happened was my doing." He threw up his hands as Tommy started laughing, hugging his sides and kicking his feet. " _'Invisible spider jockeys in the flower shop? Blame Dream! Church Prime covered in bedrock? Oh, must've been Dream!'_ " he exclaimed sarcastically and scowled. "Don't you sometimes get blamed for the stupid shit Tubbo does when he gets some wacky storyline going off on whatever tangent catches his interest?"

"Yeah, but Tubbo does some really fucking hilarious stuff!" the younger blonde returned and rubbed at one eye as his laughter started ebbing away. "DreamXD sounds like he'd be fun to hang out with. You think he'll give me infinite diamonds if I scam him right?"

"He'd be more likely to drop you in a ravine and inflict blindness that lasts a week as a prank," Dream returned flatly, "But sure, talk to him and see what he says. Siblings suck when you're not the favorite."

-Hour 7-

Tommy could count on one hand the number of times Dream's face went blank and empty, the older Avatar turning to look at the lavafall blocking their exit for a moment before beginning to walk towards it as though it wasn't even there. He didn't like thinking about what Dream might have gone through to have that happen, what George and Sapnap also suffered with since they shared the same tendency; he'd heard rumors while sneaking around the other adults on his adventures with Tubbo and Ranboo, but only pieces here and there with frightening words and more terrifying implications. Wasn't the therapy supposed to be helping with this? Could it even work against something so poisonous that Dream and his friends willingly took in?

Speaking of that, Dream was doing it again, falling silent in the middle of recounting a story with him and Sky on a trip to walk away towards the wall of lava. Tommy rushed to the chest and pulled out one of the books inside with its matching quill strapped to it, then darted up to grab onto Dream's wrist again, digging in his heels and pulling back. "Hey! I just got the best idea ever!" Tommy shouted for attention, waving the book around. "You've got all these books, right? How about you draw me some of those places you saw while on the run from Sky Army? It'll be like therapy, but with art!"

"..Huh?" Dream muttered, blinking at the haze of orange glow before turning his head to look at him with a sleepy expression. "Did I do it again?" Tommy waved the book at him again, forcing on a smile for both their benefits.

The sketches at the start were shaky and uneven, and the answers Dream gave as Tommy pestered him with questions about the places he drew were short and unenthusiastic at first. But that passed as it seemed like Dream was 'waking up', the sketches growing cleaner, replies more rambling and excited, hands gesturing animatedly. Sitting in front of the older Avatar with his back to the far wall of the cell meant Tommy could control where Dream faced, namely _away_ from the tempting orange glow of lava.

"You've been to Sky Capital before, haven't you? You've seen what it looked like _before_ ," Dream asked back, puzzled tone to his voice as he drew out the obsidian pillars that now pierced the skyline of the city ruins.

"Yeah, but only a few times and not close to when you went all Feral Boy on them," Tommy agreed between bites of cooked steak. He wasn't sure if that was a safe topic, but he assumed it was okay since the older Avatar mentioned it first. Dream just grinned at the description and carefully scratched in a tiny figure in the sky over the ruins, lightly inked beams radiating from it to the pillars, representing the beams of energy the End Crystals fired towards that figure. "What was it like? Like, what did it _feel_ like, when that happened?" Tommy went on quietly, then sat up straighter, "Cuz I would have been, like, 'Hoooo! Look at me! I've got **all** the power! Worship and pray before me! WAP! I'm your god now!' Girls are into that, right?"

"I don't really know, or remember. Not like, clearly or anything," Dream admitted with a soft chuckle, resting a cheek on one hand as he drew two tiny circles floating over the figure's shoulders. "There was a lot of anger.. a lot of.. hopelessness. I remember.. I never told anyone this, but I remember pulling on the soul-link, trying to reach Clay and ask for help, something to get me out of that dark place my mind had gone to. And it felt like.. it felt like he was _trying_ to reach me.. but Minecraftia blocked him."

"Rude," Tommy quipped quietly, taking another small bite of his food and chewing it carefully.

"Well.. I'm glad it did now. Sky and Deadlox told me what would have happened if I connected to him while Feral," Dream muttered, eyes darkening at the memory, "I don't think I could have forgiven myself if I ended up dragging Clay into the same state and he ended up comatose from it." He rolled the quill between his fingers, watching the feather flip over and over. "At the time though, getting blocked just pissed me off more and felt like.. I dunno.. nothing good, for sure. And Herobrine took advantage of that every chance He got to mess with me." He shook himself off and looked down at the sketch. "So that's the Ruins of Sky Capital. You can visit that now, if you have permission from Sky and Deadlox, but it's got code protection on it so no looting the place."

"Then what's the fucking point?" Tommy muttered with a roll of his eyes and Dream laughed, which **was** the point.

-Hour 9-

_"Dream, Tommy, can you hear me?"_ Awesamdude asked in the group call and Tommy sat up from reading one of the books he had Dream write to keep him busy and distracted from the lava. The older blonde was currently asleep, laid out on his back and snoring softly, giving him a break from the stress of trying to keep the guy wrangled.

"I'm here, Dream's resting; do you have _any_ idea how **hard** it is to keep him in one place?!" Tommy answered in a low hiss, "Who had the stupid idea of using lava to keep him in here?! I've had to keep him from just walking into it like **four** times already and he's only got **fifty** levels!"

_"..Clay and Sam?"_

"Well, they're _idiots_ , and whoever coded Herobrine to do stupid shit like leave an imprint in Dream's head to walk his happy ass into lava every chance he gets is also a fucker and should have warm pillows every night and cat piss in his shoes," Tommy ranted as quietly as he could, darting a look over at the older Avatar to be sure he stayed asleep. "Now are you coming to get us out of here or what? Did you fix the redstone? I don't wanna end up traumatized because George's boyfriend keeps trying to fling himself into this Dungeons shit; I am a _child_!"

 _"We're not boyfriends,"_ George's voice sounded in the call, exasperated but laughing nervously after.

"Denial makes you ugly," Tommy told him, then promptly ignored him to focus on Awesam, "How did he get in the call? Dream didn't invite him."

 _"Dream didn't put all the settings in place so I invited him and Sapnap and Technoblade,"_ Awesam replied drily. _"We put together supplies and mapped out as much of the prison as I could share without compromising it for the roleplay. Might not help as much if Minecraftia turned it into a dungeon to keep Dream sealed in but we're coming in to clear it and hopefully reach you guys with fire resistance potions."_ There was a sound in the background of doors being pushed open, Sapnap and Techno bickering over who would get more kills in the dungeon. _"If we're lucky, the redstone for the food dispenser is still working to give you guys potatoes, so you should be okay on food. If not, well, conserve what you can and we'll be there soon. Keep an eye on Dream; Sapnap already caught me up on his tendency to lava swim."_

"I. Am. A. _Child_ ," Tommy repeated, slower, just in case Awesam had missed it the first time. "You guys wouldn't trust me with a wooden pickaxe in a building full of diamond ore, why are you putting the responsibility of a wholeass Avatar in **my** hands?!"

 _"Ideally, I wouldn't be doing that, but you're the one in there with him and Clay's not logging in any time soon so there's no protection for Dream if he loses levels to the lava,"_ Awesam sighed, the sound of armor clinking and weapons being drawn in the background as the group headed into the prison. _"Look, we're heading in. There's a hidden dispenser in that chute that acts as the revive and food drop system, but the only way to reach it is to climb up inside the chute since it's not hooked into the redstone. Inside are stacks of experience bottles. Use those to keep your levels up, just in case."_

The call ended and Tommy sighed in frustration, dragging his hands down over his face. None of this was fun; it was stressful and aggravating and unfair.

He let himself sulk about the situation for a few minutes, then shook himself off and got to his feet. Experience bottles hidden in the chute for emergencies? Good. Tommy's Player had gotten him killed a few times during the roleplay, costing him all of his levels that he needed to pay the respawn costs if he were to die again without him. Getting at least ten levels back would save him once. Tommy hoped the stock was plentiful enough to get him higher.

Stepping into the water source in the corner, the young Avatar squinted up into the dark depths of the revival system chute. It was a single block wide, enough to shimmy through if he braced his back against one side and climbed. Getting into the space in the first place would be the hard bit. The entrance, or exit, was flush with the ceiling and that was too far overhead for him to reach via jumping, more so since it was directly below the water source which was dug down a block, making the distance between Tommy and the chute that much greater.

All of this was processed fairly quickly in Tommy's mind and he spoke his conclusion with a succinct, "This is fucking bullshit and I don't like it one bit." as he glared up at the chute. Movement in the corner of his eye had him turn his attention aside, watching as Dream sat up and rubbed at one eye with a yawn.

"What's going on? Were you saying something?" he asked drowsily. He stretched his arms over his head as Tommy gave him a recap of his conversation with Awesamdude. "Ah, so.. need some help getting up in there?"

"Well, you're awake now; can't you just do your fancy hand wave code stuff and give me a hundred levels?" Tommy asked hopefully. Dream tilted his head to one side, frown on his face as he raised a finger between them.

"No, for two reasons; one, I'm not Sysop so I can't give you levels. You have to ask Exdee," he said in faint exasperation and raised another finger. "And two, the only other way to do that is to go Viral in order to access your Avatar files. Know what happens after I'm Viral? I pass out for hours."

"I see no drawbacks in this whatsoever," Tommy told him flatly. "If you're passed out, you're not walking into lava like a stupid green lemming."

One of Dream's eyes twitched as he glared at the other blonde. "How about you check how many experience bottles are in that storage before I try for that?" he countered as the sound of redstone mechanisms clicking went off behind the thick layers of obsidian. Both of them froze for a moment before Dream grabbed Tommy by the shirt and yanked him away from the water source, throwing him back to the lectern.

" _Ow!_ Hey! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Tommy yelled, stumbling against the lectern and knocking the book on display off the block. Dream ignored him, tapping at the medallion around his neck to unfold his cloak, grabbing a fistful of cloth and holding it over himself as a barrier as the sound of a dispenser clicking fired. The younger Avatar backed away more, wide-eyed and in a hurry as he caught on that Splash Potions of Instant Damage were thrown down from the chute during roleplay sessions to end prisoner visits. Him with his lost levels would not be able to survive getting hit by more than one of those, not with his current lack of armor.

Something dropped through the chute and plunked into the water with a splash, but no glass shattered or particles appeared. Both Dream and Tommy stayed still, though the older blonde glanced back at Tommy in puzzled surprise. No splash potion? Dream lowered his cloak warily, peering into the water, then uttered a laugh of disbelief that quickly ramped up into a whistling wheeze as he stepped back and hugged his stomach.

"Have you gone mad at last?" Tommy asked him flatly, giving him a wide berth as he approached the water himself and grabbed whatever was floating on the surface.

Raw potatoes.

"The fuck?" he asked, staring at the item in his hand. There were only a few of them, he could see a small number over the potato if he let his focus pull back a little. Five; five measly raw potatoes got dumped on them.

"Feeding time," Dream explained once he recovered from his laughing fit, tapping the clasp of his cloak to put it away. "So, up the chute, then?" He gestured for Tommy to come back to the water source, stepping into himself, then dropping to one knee and holding up his hands together. "Step up. You get on my shoulders and then I'll give you a boost up."

"Oh, I get it. It's a metaphor," Tommy joked as he carefully put his foot into the braced hands and used it to push himself up and balance himself with the wall, his other foot resting on Dream's shoulder. "I get to use you as a stepladder to success! Brilliant."

Unseen, Dream's gaze shuttered, a small and sardonic smile on his face. "Of course. That's what I'm here for, to be used," he agreed. "Ready?"

Tommy lifted his foot from the braced hands onto the other shoulder and looked up at the chute, gauging the distance. "Ready," he replied. He jolted a bit at the feeling of hands securely gripping his ankles then the sudden lift that had him quickly walk his hands up the wall to help maintain balance as Dream stood up and elevated him to the chute's entrance. "Whoa! I can reach it! Well, I'm practically inside it now."

"Okay, can you get inside it then? You're a Power Class, right?" Dream asked, wincing at the weight on his shoulders. "I'm Speed Class; my body's lighter and I can't hold dense weights for very long!"

"I'm Balance Class and did you just call me fat?" Tommy sniped back as he pressed his shoulders against the inner wall of the chute, lifted one leg to brace a foot against the wall, then used his arms to shimmy himself up higher. It was awkward and uncomfortable but progress was definitely made. He didn't get an answer but it was quickly forgotten in favor of climbing up the chute bit by bit to reach the dispenser.

He reached one hand up, groping for the machine, and his fingers touched onto a dispenser pointing straight down at him, opening the inventory screen to show it filled with splash potions. Tommy hesitated for a moment before pulling a few out to put into his own inventory. Sam wouldn't know, right? They refilled automatically anyway, so there must have been an auto refill mechanism too.

He searched around in the dim space and touched on a hopper, opening up its screen as well. Unlike the dispenser, the hopper was empty. What was the point of this thing then? Did the potatoes come out of this? But it was empty. Were there no more potatoes?

Tommy kept searching around in the dark, finding an open space with wooden legs from a bed. The revival system; in the roleplay context, anytime Dream died in the prison, he'd respawn in this narrow space and get shoved out via piston to be dropped back into the obsidian cell.

"Is everything okay up there? Don't mess with anything else; I don't wanna get yelled at for breaking any of the systems up there that could screw up the plot!" Dream called up.

"There's a hopper in here that's empty and it came that way, I didn't take anything from it!" Tommy called back down, reaching behind himself and touching on another block that had a screen open in front of him. Score! A grid filled with experience bottles greeted him and he smiled. "Found the bottles!"

"Only take half of what's in there; leave the rest for me in future sessions," Dream told him firmly. "Don't get greedy."

Tommy mouthed out Dream's words mockingly as he pulled out the bottles and stuffed them into his own inventory. He took the half he was allowed anyway and closed the screens. "I'm coming back down!" he called and pulled in his arms, straightening his position to drop through the chute and hit the water with a splash. Dream stood off to one side, watching him with a raised eyebrow. The young Avatar showed off one of the stacks of experience bottles with a smile. "Levels for _daaaaays_ , boys!" he declared.

"I'm the only other boy here," Dream told him with a grin before raising a hand to his mouth and looking away thoughtfully while Tommy began throwing down the bottles at his feet and absorbing the jingling orbs of experience. "An empty hopper.. wasn't that for the food dispenser? What happened to the dispenser itself? Did it break at some point? Then the potatoes despawned?" He frowned up at the chute, then looked at the other blonde, "Let's just assume the food we have on us now is all we have."

The building shook again and both Dream and Tommy looked up in alarm, the younger blonde stepping closer to the older subconsciously. "Maybe that's Awesam and the others clearing the dungeon?" Tommy asked quietly, eyes darting around as if to track the source of the shuddering. Dream shook his head.

"Clearing a dungeon wouldn't cause shaking like this. This is probably Minecraftia..," he trailed off, expression going blank as he turned to look at the lava. He took a step towards it, then halted, shutting his eyes and shaking his head hard. "Stupid fucking viral fragment is really, _really_ trying hard to get to me," he growled, pressing hands to his eyes. He felt his shirt sleeve get grabbed onto and huffed a dry laugh at Tommy's attempt to keep him grounded.

"We just gotta hang on until they get to us with fire resistance potions and we'll be outta here," Tommy told him firmly. "I'm still in charge, so my rules still stand. No going near lava."

Dream's head shot up from his hands, eyes wide. "Fire resistance! Oh my god, I am both stupidly bad at this and a goddamn genius," he exclaimed and looked at the startled blond. "Give me half of whatever potatoes you have."

"Don't you already have more potatoes than me? You were saving some for me in the roleplay," Tommy pointed out and the older Avatar checked his inventory. He pulled some potatoes out and held them in his hands, concentrating. "So what's your 'genius' idea? Did you hear the quote, unquote in that?" Tommy added, watching him warily.

"Fire resistance," Dream replied, carefully writing out the correct tags and data in his head to apply. "I can't change food into potions, only other food. There's one raw food we can eat that'll give us fire resistance so we can safely get out of here." A green shimmer flickered over the potatoes and left behind a small pile of golden apples that possessed a violet glow rippling over them.

Enchanted Golden Apples.

"God apples!" Tommy yelled excitedly, lunging to grab them out of Dream's hands. The fruits were incredibly rare, powerful, and coveted within the borders of the DreamSMP territory, which kept inventories isolated from the rest of Minecraftia to preserve the nature of the roleplay storyline within it. It was a barrier erected around the land by DreamXD specifically to protect the lore. It was also a rule that Dream wasn't allowed to use his Anti-Viral powers in ways that would be considered 'an exploitative advantage', such as turning cheap potatoes into the rare fruits.

Dream held his arms out and moved them around erratically to keep the apples out of Tommy's reach, scowling. "I'm gonna get in trouble for making these, at least pay attention when I'm talking!" he argued as the other blonde scrabbled for his hands. "Tommy, knock it off! We're the same height but you're heavier, you're gonna-!"

He stumbled, tripping over one of Tommy's feet as the younger Avatar grabbed for the enchanted apples. Tommy paled, realizing his mistake in that moment, wide eyes watching in horror as Dream fell aside, head slamming against the water-filled cauldron behind him. He slumped down, limbs limp and lidded eyes dark and sightless. Tommy stepped back, clutching the stolen apples to himself as a nervous sweat broke out over his face.

"He's not dead. He's not dead," he told himself, glancing to a corner of his vision and letting his eyes lose enough focus to see the chat window briefly. No death message; no damning proclamation of 'Dream was slain by TommyInnit' to condemn him to everyone in the area who could see it. "It was an accident. He tripped and fell. His own clumsy feet got him like this."

Except he wouldn't have been stumbling around if he hadn't been struggling against Tommy and his want to have so many god apples.

Guilt made his stomach clench uncomfortably and Tommy bit into one of the apples nervously, chewing on the crisp fruit as its effects applied to him. A flame symbol appeared in a corner of his vision and his heart sank; fire resistance. That's why Dream converted the potatoes; they were going to escape the prison with these and he didn't stop to think, to listen. He just saw the rare and powerful items in great number, let his greed get the better of him, and Dream paid for it.

Tommy flicked his hand to the next empty spot in his hotbar, putting the enchanted apples away, then knelt to examine Dream's head and make sure there wasn't any damage. Luckily, skin hadn't broken, so there was no blood. There was a growing bump that would likely be tender and sore for a while. He gingerly passed a hand over Dream's eyes to close them fully, then carefully pulled him away from the cauldron, laying him out on the floor more comfortably before backing away to pace nervously.

What was he going to do? He had the apples that would let him swim through the lava and escape, but he'd have to leave Dream behind. Well, he was unconscious so maybe it'd be okay.

Tommy backed away towards the lava. "Sorry, sorry sorry, you'll be fine, you're a big man," he whispered rapidly, nervously, "You dealt with all kinds of bullshit before, you'll be fine. You're safe as long as you don't move from that spot." His foot stepped over the edge of the cell entrance and Tommy waved his arms wildly, falling backwards into the wall of lava.

The world became tinted red-gold, the enchanted aura around him protecting him from burning to death. Tommy scrabbled to start swimming, kicking his legs and moving his arms to move through the thick molten liquid. Above him, the lava rippled as though something else was moving through it, a dark shape passing overhead that startled Tommy into floating in place, moving his arms and legs to hover.

Whatever that big thing was.. it was heading straight for the opening to the obsidian cell. Tommy cringed, looking around helplessly, then hesitantly began to paddle back to the cell. He swam upwards, hoping for a better look at what that large shape could be. There was a sound like glass shattering and Tommy hugged the obsidian wall, hiding and waiting to see what was going on. The shape emerged from the cell after a short while and he was able to get a decent look at it.

A Zombie Piglin bigger than any he'd ever seen before paddled slowly through the lava, one arm moving through the lava to keep it balanced as thick legs kicked to push it forward. The other arm was busy with holding Dream pinned to its shoulder, the Avatar radiating the particles of a fire resistance potion. He was still unconscious, arms hanging loose down the Zombie Piglin's back. His hands, however, were handcuffed, a short length of chain dangling between his wrists. Metallic gloves covered his hands fully, shimmering with the light of enchantment. Tommy's eyebrows lifted in alarm, recognizing them.

Those were specially made handcuffs that suppressed an Avatar's ability to access their menus and screens. A completely unique item forged by Minecraftia itself, it had no category and was tagged with coding from Minecraft Dungeons.

An item Dream couldn't affect and so couldn't escape from, even with his Viral powers.

"Dream! Dream, wake up!" Tommy cried out, swimming up through the lava and fighting the turbulence caused by the brutish Piglin moving through the liquid. He struggled to keep up, reaching out and grabbing at the other Avatar's hand, arm, shirt sleeve, anything. The Zombie Piglin pulled ahead and Tommy had to hang back, flicking back to the enchanted apples to eat another one before the aura faded on him.

By the time he had more time on the aura and came out the other side of the wall of lava, the Zombie Piglin brute was gone and so was Dream, leaving Tommy standing in stunned silence at the massive new prison layout that looked nothing like it had been hours ago when his Player took him through it for the roleplay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: blood and injury, dislocated limbs

-Hour 10-

Blackstone and obsidian paths wound over lakes of lava with iron bar cages hanging over the glowing lakes, suspended by iron chains attached to blackstone beams that criss-crossed high overhead. Zombie Piglins, Piglins, Wither Skeletons and skeletons patrolled the paths lit with redstone lamps and glowstone, ornate chests scattered around the prison area. There were stairs and slopes and steep rises to rows of prison cells. At the top of one slope at the far right of the map was a large opening that was likely an exit to the next part of the prison.

Tommy blinked in surprise as he spotted the brute sitting at the top of the slope to rest, huffing and grunting for breath. Rather than set Dream down, it elected to hook his handcuffs onto a length of chain hanging from the ceiling nearby, letting the Avatar dangle over a lava-fall that flowed into the lake that bubbled under the paths. Words formed in the upper right corner of Tommy's vision, and if he unfocused slightly to make them clearer to read, he could make out what it said.

_Locate Dream at the Room Exit._

"I'm going to put in a complaint to whoever's in charge here," Tommy told himself with a huff of bravado, looking around himself for a chest to loot. "All of this is a major health hazard. If I get hurt, I have full rights to sue. This isn't even Pandora's Vault proper anymore, so I can do it. I know my rights!"

There was a short staircase that led to a large black chest with gold accents. Tommy ran up the steps and pushed open the lid, looking inside in hopes of getting something good. Guard Armor with a couple of enchants on it for speed and reduced damage and Gauntlets with a healing enchantment; Tommy quickly pulled on the armor and set the matching helmet on his head, shuddering as the Dungeons heart gauge spawned in and split his hotbar in two to make room for itself.

"Never gonna be able to get used to that. I don't get the appeal of running through these fancy, not-Java dungeons," he muttered to himself, pulling the gauntlets on over his hands and adjusting the straps to fit them snugly against his forearms. He flexed his hands into fists a few times, getting used to the metal platings shielding his fingers, back of his hands, and arms. Digging around more in the chest netted him a few loaves of bread as well and a small Totem of Undying that looked a bit off, bearing a large number three on the body. "This is the kind of shit the Speedrunners' Guild was built up to deal with. I'm not in it, why am I stuck with having to go through this? I'm innocent, a _sweet_ , innocent child," Tommy complained, looping the totem's cord over his head to hang it around his neck.

And then he glanced up at the far staircase, at the hulking Zombie Piglin sitting on the floor and snacking on some sort of food, at Dream hanging limply from the chain beside it, suspended over lava by the enchanted handcuffs suppressing his abilities, and Tommy clicked his teeth together, irritated by the guilt still sitting in his gut. Suppose there was a good reason to clear the dungeon after all...

The gauntlets seemed to work fairly well with Tommy's hit and run style of combat; as Piglins ran at him, Tommy would dart forward, land several rapid punches in a combo, then dash aside to evade counter attacks, jumping onto blocks and short walls for height and distance. The jingling of orbs danced around him as he ran over the prison paths, making his way to the far staircase. More experience meant more levels to pay for respawns making him a little more daring in attacking Wither Skeletons that rushed at him.

Black bones cracked and broke apart under the slams of his fists against them, the mobs falling apart as Tommy pressed on, glancing up at his goal now and then just to be sure the 'boss' mob hadn't left, hadn't taken Dream further. Every now and then the prison seemed to shudder, a strangely oppressive pressure spreading through Pandora's Vault.. or had the name changed? He shifted focus to the words in the upper right of his field of vision again; Pandora Dark. Why 'Dark'? Didn't make any sense...

 _"Tommy, Dream, can you hear me?"_ Awesamdude asked suddenly in Tommy's ears via the group call. The blonde rolled his eyes briefly at the interruption in the midst of him punching another Piglin off the path into the lava. The mob squealed in pain and panic, flailing in death throes as he turned away from it to touch at his ear.

"Awesam, big man, you're running seriously late!" he replied, taking the time to grab the bread and take bites for a snack. "This Dungeons shit is super annoying when I don't have my gear. I had to leave all that at home so it wouldn't be in my inventory when Thomas logged into me for the lore stream."

 _"Yeah, wait.. what?"_ Awesam exclaimed in confusion, _"Tommy? Are you out of the prison cell?! How?!"_

Tommy fidgeted in place, glancing up at the far staircase again as he took another bite of bread to stall for time. The Zombie Piglin just sat there, scratching its stomach lazily and scraping off chunks of decomposing flesh. Disgusted, Tommy quickly glanced away and waited for his stomach to settle.

"Dream turned some of the potatoes into god apples cuz he remembered they give fire resistance," he finally answered and crossed his fingers that no other questions would be asked. A skeleton lined up a shot at him and Tommy sidestepped the arrow, gesturing with his pinky and thumb over his ear and mouth, scowling at it. "Do you _mind_? I'm in a call!"

 _"He **what**? He's not supposed to **do** that; that's against the rules of the DreamSMP, his own brother set that rule in place! If DreamXD finds out..!"_ Awesam began in greater confusion.

 _"Screw what DreamXD is gonna do to him, **I'm** gonna kick his ass for trying to walk in lava again when I'm not there!"_ Sapnap yelled through the call, _"Where is he?! Put him on! Dream! You better be making your way to meet us in this stupid ass prison-dungeon!"_

Tommy winced and looked up at the Avatar in question, moving to the side to dodge another arrow and vowing to deal with that soon. Dream's head hung down but he was held high enough that his face was visible. His brows furrowed together slightly, as though the yelling wasn't quite reaching him.

"Um, hold that thought," Tommy said and ran down the path, ducked another arrow as he turned around a bend, then lunged at the skeleton, slamming his fists repeatedly into it with a final uppercut hurling it into the lava. A narrow tube of milk-white potion dropped from the skeleton as it was flung away and Tommy scooped it up to study it. Swiftness Potion, but it didn't look like the ones he was used to from normal brewing. He pocketed it for later and touched back into the call as he jogged onwards. "Okay, so bit of a problem there, bit of an oops, an oops that I most definitely had no hand in and can't be blamed for because I am an innocent child, okay, remember that..."

 _"Tommy, where the **fuck** is Dream?"_ Sapnap growled, the sound of Piglins screeching in the background of the call and Technoblade counting loudly over them.

"He might have been a bit of a clumsy fuck and knocked himself out.. no fault of mine!" Tommy replied hurriedly, making his way to the staircase. "And let's just say, hypothetically, like in a made up, couldn't really happen situation, that Dream might have gotten a little bit kidnapped in the prison."

 _"How.. he.. what do..?"_ Sapnap stammered in a broken and lost tone.

 _"What do you mean 'he's a little bit kidnapped'?!"_ Technoblade suddenly broke in, loud and sarcastic, _"How is **anyone** 'a little bit kidnapped'?! What, did someone drag him out of whatever iron box he was stuck in and put him in **another** iron box?!"_

 _"He's **not** in an iron box, you **know** he has issues with iron doors. If we were ever gonna make this part of the script work without him immediately tearing the prison apart, we couldn't have him behind iron doors,"_ Awesam pointed out inanely before raising his voice. _"But the point is, **how** was he kidnapped?! **Who** kidnapped him?! **Why?!** "_

"Don't yell at **me**! It's not **my** fault! It's this stupid, smelly, giant Zombie Piglin just _swaaaam_ in like it owned the place and dragged Dream out and now here I am, running around this inhumane box of misery and lava to get him back and.. _where even **are** you people?!_" Tommy ranted back at them irritably, chancing another look up at Dream.

The older Avatar was grimacing in his sleep, as though all the yelling and arguing was finally getting through and pulling him to wakefulness. His eyes fluttered, then opened slowly, wincing as if the pain of hitting the cauldron finally set in. Tommy grit his teeth and ran faster, the armor's aura increasing his speed further and carrying him over the paths of blackstone and obsidian.

 _"On our way through the second room, the prison has gotten so much bigger and our maps are useless!"_ George called out, _"Tommy, if you're travelling through it, be careful!"_

 _"..George?"_ Dream mumbled dazedly into the call.

A gate rose up at the base of the staircase just as Tommy reached it and he dug in his heels to halt himself, staring around at several glowing red circles forming on the path around him. Light flashed upward from them, leaving behind several Piglins that rushed towards him with axes and swords in hand. "Ohhh! Gonna have to call you back, boys! There's wrong'uns on my tail!" he declared and tapped at his ear, dodging the first few attacks and blocking others with the metal plates of the gauntlets.

Golden blades shone in the light of lava, reflecting it in blinding angles that Tommy tried his best to shield his eyes from, weaving around some Piglins while lashing out punches on others where he could. A sword blade caught him across the back, throwing him to the ground with a sting of pain. The gauntlets glowed, their enchantment kicking in and sending a rush of healing through the blonde as he scrambled to his feet and ran for higher ground, desperately looking for a way to deal with the crowd of Piglins trailing him.

 _"As the wind whips 'round, I take a breath for victory!"_ Dream's voice sang out suddenly, and Tommy immediately sought out the older Avatar. _"Wanna play tag or wave your white flag? Cuz you'll never touch me!"_ Dream sang on, determined expression on his face even as he hung over the lava cascading down into the lake below.

Around Tommy's shoulders, data gathered and formed a wave of pixels that flowed down his back, leaving behind a green hooded cloak of durable cloth, held in place with a netherite clasp at Tommy's neck. His eyes widened in surprise, ducking to one side as the movement whipped the cloak up enough to deflect an axe that was being brought down where he had been moments before.

"Yeah, yeah! Keep it up, big man!" he called up, turning on his heel and pummeling the disoriented Piglin with rapid attacks. He followed it up with the next in line, lashing out to any other Piglin that tried to press close with hits hard enough to stun them for short bursts. "I'm almost through!"

 _"King of hearts, all in, it's not a sin to wanna win! Can't see me!"_ the older blonde continued the melody and more free-flowing data gathered at Tommy's temples, stretching out to the back of his head in a strip of particles as well as circling around his face, the bottom edge passing between his nose and mouth. _"Flying like a bee, black and yellow energy! Only me on my team, naturally!"_

The particles burst into solid form at the same moment Dream sang the drop-beat, _"I see a Dreamer over there by the water!"_ , forming a copy of his signature mask over Tommy's face, held securely by a black band with netherite buckle.

"Whoa!" Tommy breathed in shock as the mask began tracking the mobs chasing him, locking onto each one and telling him their distance from him as well as the amount of health they each had left. Was this what it was like for Dream and his mask?

_"But I got no, but I got no, kakorrhaphiophobia! I see a Dreamer and he's ripe for the slaughter! But I got no, but I got no, kakorrhaphiophobia~!"_

Lines began forming on the floor in front of Tommy as his speed suddenly increased further, shifting and tracing out paths in ever changing directions as he moved. What was it-? He followed the line as he circled back around to attack the mobs and it guided him cleanly through the Piglins' attempts to hack and slash at him as if they had missed him by miles. Pathfinding! Was that something the song gave him?

"Hell! Fuckin'! _Yeah!_ Can't fucking touch me, boooooys! Bring it!" Tommy whooped, charging in and punching in rapid-fire succession as Dream sang on from the staircase, fueling the advantage in battle.

One by one, the Piglins fell and vanished in puffs of digital smoke and particles, leaving behind healing potions or food. One even dropped a pair of daggers that Tommy scooped up and put into his hotbar. The brutish Zombie Piglin got up with a grunt, reaching out to grab Dream's hands in its grip and tugging sharply to snap the chain hooked to his handcuffs. Dream let out a pained cry that interrupted the song, and a warning message flashed in Tommy's vision, followed by a countdown timer that floated in a corner of his vision almost unobtrusively. The gate blocking Tommy from running up the stairs began to shudder, the pathfinding line flickering wildly in front of it, unable to map out an optimal route for him.

Dream twisted and kicked at the Zombie Piglin, yelling furiously as he tried freeing himself, and Tommy hopped in place anxiously, biting his lip. The gate lowered so slowly, and the brute jerked its fist upward, a pair of sickening pops sounding horribly loud in the room, followed by Dream screaming in agony. Tommy raised a hand to his mouth, stomach roiling in horror as the Zombie Piglin turned away and lumbered through the exit, dragging the other Avatar over the ground beside it as the darkness of the doorway swallowed them both up.

Tommy breathed out shakily, blinking rapidly as beads of wetness traced paths down his cheeks behind the mask. What the hell had they gotten into? What was going on? Why.. why did that thing **do** that to Dream? _Why?_ There wasn't any _reason_ to hurt him like that. His own shoulders ached in reaction to what he'd witnessed. His legs trembled, refusing to move forward as he processed.

 _"Hhhuaaah_..." he breathed out again, voice wobbling as he blinked again, "This place is trying to kill us..."

The gate finally fell, and Tommy managed a step forward, then another, then slowly picked up speed, racing on up the stairs and following the guiding line. He had to keep moving, he was closest to Dream, the only one with a chance to get him back, the others were taking so long, too long.

He wished the stream didn't happen when it did.

-Hour 11-

More paths wound in serpentine curves and bends of polished blackstone and basalt with oddly placed smears of redstone dust over the blocks, spiraling upwards on pillars of blackstone brick that stretched far, far down into nothingness. Like the bottom of Pandora's Vault had fallen past bedrock and stretched into the Void. Skeletons and zombies littered the path this time, with a few Creepers mixed in and milling about. The words in the corner of Tommy's vision flickered, updating the current 'quest'; _Activate the three beacons. 0/3_. He scoffed under his breath and began running, following the pathfinding trail and checking the time in the other corner in his vision.

Since Dream hadn't completed the song, the length of time he did manage to sing was doubled and became the length of time Tommy had to use the benefits of the song. _I See A Dreamer_ was incredibly useful, which meant it came with some drawbacks in its activation. Tommy only had a precious few minutes left so he pushed himself as far and as fast as he could, shoving mobs off the path with hard punches that triggered the gauntlets' healing enchantment at odd times.

 _"Tommy, are you okay?"_ George's voice suddenly came on in the call and Tommy clicked his tongue in irritation, making his way to the first beacon marked by the mask, a small self-contained construct of white quartz and gold that looked nothing like the beacons he was used to seeing in Vanilla lands. The sounds of fighting in the background of the call seemed more frenzied; had more mobs spawned over there instead of here, where he was able to clear weaker ones more easily?

"Define _'okay'_ , George," Tommy muttered back, reaching the first beacon and pressing his hand against the activation panel. A bar popped up in front of it on a small screen, filling with color steadily as zombies spawn in through flashes of light in a surprise ambush. He flicked his right hand to the daggers and gripped one in each hand, leaping forward to meet the mobs head on, swinging his arms and slashing rhythmically. "I just witnessed one of the most horrible things in my life.. I **heard** the most horrible thing I could _ever_ hear... 'Okay' is **not** the word I'd use to describe me right now, George."

 _"I heard it too,"_ George admitted quietly, _"We all did. Dream wasn't muted. ..Listen carefully, you can still hear him."_

Tommy didn't want to, didn't want to scar himself more, but then he already had a growing list of traumatic things he'd seen and been involved in, what was one more thing? ..Dream would probably use that argument to point out again how he needed therapy and Tommy was half-convinced that maybe the older Avatar was right. He swiped the air in front of himself once the last zombie fell and the beacon finally lit, sending a beam of white light shooting up into the air. A list of names in the group call were displayed on the screen that appeared before him and Tommy ran his finger over the other names, leaving only his own and Dream's active in softly glowing white.

Soft and uneven breaths finally came through the call clearly, with tiny whimpers of pain mixed in for gutpunching flavor. Tommy winced as he resumed running up the spiraling path; if Dream hadn't muted himself, then the sound of the two of them scrabbling over the Enchanted Golden Apples had to have also carried through the call. So the team would have known the truth, the reason why Dream had been knocked out in the cell, and if that's true, then why didn't they say anything while he chattered a lame cover-up and denial of his own actions?

"..Dream?" Tommy called out hesitantly, watching the timer tick down as he ran up the path to the next beacon. "You there, big man?"

A stuttering inhale, then a pained chuckle. _"H-hey, Tommy. Doing.. good?"_ Dream answered in a small voice, _"S-sorry you.. had to see that... Not my best moment."_

"You'll be fine, you're good, you're gonna be good, I'm on my way up to ya right now," Tommy replied in a rush, slicing the daggers across a zombie that spawned between him and the second beacon. "How many hearts do you have? Can you eat?"

Another breathy laugh, shuddering and wet. _"Four hearts.. I took.. some hits.. getting dragged up here.. my arms.. I can't move them, Tommy."_

Tommy winced. "Well, then **don't** try moving them, stupid bitch. Just.. lay there and look pretty.. and dumb," he said sharply. Four hearts, just four, and no armor, can't regen, can't eat food; if that stupid Zombie Piglin mini-boss hurt him again... Dream just laughed, weak and pained but buried underneath it Tommy could just about hear that familiar strength and humor from the speedrunner.

 _"Sure. Just be careful out there. ..Don't come after me, okay? Go find the others, I can hear them in call,"_ the older Avatar told him quietly, voice growing fainter, _"Unmute 'em.. go there.. 'm ok..."_

He went silent after that, with only a few soft breaths managing to transmit. Tommy exhaled harshly, reaching the beacon and pressing one hand to the plate while the other swept open the call window again, running a fingertip over the column of names to unmute the group. He winced at the sudden surge of voices all talking to each other in concern while battling through waves of mobs. In the midst of it all was George's voice, soft but still audible, talking comfortingly to Dream despite the lack of response. The guilty lump in Tommy's gut grew a little heavier, but he forced himself to shake it off and focus on the zombies spawning in to ambush him.

They were too far away, it'd take hours more for them to get to this room and whatever was going on with that stupid mini-boss probably wasn't gonna be good for Dream. Which meant Tommy was _definitely_ the hero of this story, so he had to make sure he didn't mess up again. And with that in mind, the blonde leaped at the zombies with heroic shrieks, determined to clear the dungeon room.

The third beacon activated as Tommy sat against it tiredly. The increased speed, mask, cloak, and other benefits granted by Dream's song had worn off some time ago, and now his legs ached from trying to match that heightened speed on his own. The words in his vision changed, from _Activate the Three Beacons_ to _Locate Dream at the Room Exit_. Tommy pulled his hands over his face tiredly, then flicked his hand through his hotbar to reach the last of the bread loaves and eat to refill his hunger and reactivate his regen.

After a few minutes, he got back up, the audio of Awesam and the others making their way through a fourth room providing background noise as he ran up the spiraling path to the exit. He could see it, just a short distance away, the gate that had blocked access to the exit now open. Tommy glanced over his hotbar contents, flicking his hand to cycle through them and stopping on a new weapon that had dropped from a Skeleton Vanguard during that last ambush; a Glaive with an enchantment that increased his attack speed briefly. The vanguard had been pretty tough. Tommy had to keep finding ways to get close to it while avoiding the long reach of the spear-like weapon and then land an attack before the vanguard could block with its shield. He hated it, reminded once again why he avoided going into the Dungeons dungeons despite the really good loot that sometimes could be found there.

Tommy gripped the glaive as he brought up a screen with his zoom button, keeping his fingers on it as he focused on the room exit, a large opening that led into shadow. In front of it sat the massive Zombie Piglin, once again huffing and snorting as if exhausted from moving up the room's spiraling path. Beside it lay Dream, limp on the floor, and Tommy swallowed hard as he connected the strange smears of what he thought was redstone dust on the path with the red that puddled in a halo around Dream's head and stained part of his face. His eyes were partially open, empty stare fixed on the ceiling.

In sudden fear, Tommy checked the local chat window for a death message. He hadn't been paying attention, too focused on himself and getting through all the mobs and traps and activating beacons and keeping his regen up. But no, there was no damning golden text, for Dream at least. There was a line for George, who had managed to get knocked off a ledge by an enraged Enderman, which would explain the way Tommy tuned out the other team as background noise, the static sound automatically filtered in his mind as unimportant.

That's why Dream had gone silent and didn't respond to even George's panicked screams from falling. The stupid mini-boss had literally dragged him up the spiral path like an animal on a lead, letting the jutting edges of slabs, stairs, and blocks just hit wherever they pleased.

Outraged by the careless and cruel treatment of the older Avatar, Tommy ran forward with the glaive held tight so the blade pointed ahead of him to tear into his target at a distance. The brute Zombie Piglin jerked itself to a more attentive stance once it noticed him coming, then began getting to its feet, lifting a large melee weapon in one hand. The weapon looked like it was fashioned of bone, a giant rib that was cut into a long and thick rectangle and strapped onto a wooden pole with strong leather ribbons.

" _You fucking bastard!_ What did you **do** to him?!" Tommy yelled as the mini-boss lumbered through the opened gate to meet him head on. It swung the club in a wide arc, as though to slam it into him. He rolled forward under it, felt the pressure of wind over him as it narrowly missed, and popped back to his feet to lash out with the glaive. He slashed down from an overhead swing for the first chunk of damage, then swung it around in a pair of horizontal slashes while the Zombie Piglin staggered from the initial blow.

It recovered quickly and punched at Tommy while lifting the club for another swing. The blonde was thrown back with a pained grunt, back impacting the blackstone floor. A good portion of his heart gauge dropped in level, nearly a third gone, and he rolled aside with a gasp as the bone club slammed down right where he had been lying, cracking the blocks and splitting them apart, crushing the stone and scattering fragments in a spray. A few of the stone fragments peppered unprotected spaces of Tommy's skin, making him wince at nicks and cuts across his cheeks and arms as he surged to his feet and gripped the glaive, driving the lengthy blade into the Zombie Piglin again.

The blade sank into rotting flesh with a sick squelch and Tommy grimaced as he swung the grip aside, ripping the weapon out as the mini-boss squealed loudly in pain, swinging its arm towards him in an attempt to slap him away. He ran from it, darting for shelter behind a short wall of blackstone brick. The nicks on his face and arms stung, dripping red as he flicked through his hotbar to bring up the Enchanted Golden Apples. He ate one quickly, gulping down chunks of apple and thumping his chest when it felt like a piece was trying to get lodged in his throat.

"Phew! Eating during a fight is some seriously risky shit!" he breathed out and pulled out the glaive again, letting the apple handle his regeneration and give him its additional effects. He could hear the Zombie Piglin stomping around in its search for him and peeked around the wall to check where it was looking. It raised the bone club and smashed it down onto another pile of blackstone blocks, demolishing it and sending the shards flying about.

While it was still working on lifting the club back up, Tommy ran out with the glaive and charged the Zombie Piglin again, yelling furiously as he plunged it into the mob's back. It reared up, squealing loudly in pain and twisting back and forth to dislodge him. Tommy held on to the weapon tightly, yelling just as loudly in fright as the world whipped back and forth in a dizzying rush of dark shades.

"Awesaaaaam! Awesam, help!" he screamed, feeling sick from the mini-boss swinging him around.

 _"We're held up in this lava room! We'll be there soon, Tommy, don't give up! Run and hide, we'll be there soon, I promise!"_ Awesamdude called back over the sound of swords and axes crossing blades with the weapons wielded by Pigmen.

How was he supposed to run and hide with this hulking thing smashing all the hiding places and thrashing about while he was holding on for dear life?!

The Zombie Piglin began slowing down, breaths rattling and wet as it staggered towards the gate, dragging the club along the ground and dripping fluids Tommy didn't want to try to identify. He could feel his arms shaking, exhaustion starting to set in from holding on so tight to keep from being thrown off. "C'mon, c'mon, you're the big man, large and in charge, only dubs, only dubs," he chanted to himself, trying to think of what to do next, trying to find some plan to follow. There **had** to be a way to win this!

What would Dream do? Probably make use of what he had left in his inventory to clutch a win; so what did Tommy have? He carefully let one hand let go of the glaive's grip and quickly swiped the air to open his inventory screen. Strength potions, swiftness potions, the splash potions he stole, bread, apples, god apples, daggers, gauntlets, totem, arrows but no bow, a sword, another Guard Armor; what could he do with this?

 _"..viron.. ment..."_ Dream's voice suddenly came through the call, weak but clear. Had the others muted themselves temporarily? What was he saying? Tommy struggled to look around, trying to get a glimpse of the gate and the Avatar just beyond it. Dream was looking his way now, still badly battered but offering a small grin. _"Use your.. surroundings..."_

Oh, right, right, that's a thing he does in his Manhunts; Tommy recalled stories Dream told him during their hours in the obsidian cell about them. Sometimes he used the landscape as a trap to foil the hunters; maybe Tommy could do the same? He looked around again, paying more attention to the room.

There were no walls along the edges of the spiraling path. Tommy lit up in realization; if he could get the Zombie Piglin to run off the path, that would get rid of it for sure! He started swinging on the shaft of the glaive, wrenching the blade back and forth to loosen it from the mob's body as it squealed and roared in pain. "Oh, go fuck yourself.. you prick," Tommy grumbled, dropping to the floor with the freed glaive. "With all the shit you did to Dream, you deserve more suffering."

The Zombie Piglin turned, swinging the club around to slam into him and the blonde screamed in a panic, running for one side of the path. The mob followed him, lumbering after him in a loping gait that was slowly picking up speed. Tommy looked over his shoulder to keep track of it, changing the direction of his running so he'd move at a sharper angle up towards the gate. Dream was shifting around on the ground, and it looked like he was trying to get his legs to push himself upright. Why? He wouldn't be able to do anything, not all messed up the way he was from the mini-boss dragging him all over like a sack of potatoes.

Behind Tommy, the Zombie Piglin sped up, roaring in a fury. "Yeah, yeah, be pissed, I don't give two shits," he grumbled, "Not like you'll be around to do anything about it." He glanced back again, dropping a little speed to make sure it closed in on him but didn't have the chance to swing a weapon or fist at him. As it got faster, he sped back up a bit more. "C'mon, _c'moooon_!"

Once he was sure it was entirely focused on running after him, Tommy carefully moved to run for the edge of the path, luring the giant Zombie Piglin into following him at full speed. And once he was within mere feet of the drop into the Void, Tommy threw himself to one side, rolling head over heels across the ground as the mini-boss screeched in shock, the sound trailing and becoming faint as it inevitably ran right off the path.

Finally, it was over. Tommy breathed hard, resting on the ground, cheek pressed against the cool polished blackstone. Just a moment to catch his breath, and then he'll go to where Dream is and give him one of the god apples so he can heal and maybe fix his arms...

 _"..what.. wait.. no, no! Let go..! Stop!"_ Dream's voice suddenly exclaimed in fear and pain through the call. Tommy jerked his head up in alarm, wide eyes seeking out the older Avatar in time to see his legs, still kicking heels into the path, disappearing through the exit to the next room. The quest in the corner of his vision changed from _Locate Dream_ to _Exit the Room_.

"Oh no, not again," Tommy groaned in complaint. What **else** was in here that wanted to get their hands on Dream? ..Besides every other goddamned power-hungry faction in Minecraftia who thought having control of the Dream Team could have them rule the three dimensions...

He got to his feet, rubbing the dried blood that crusted on his cheeks away, then began jogging towards the exit. Things would be okay; Awesamdude, George, Sapnap, and Technoblade were on their way so he could just wait here for them and then they could go in together to rescue Dream and then they could leave and it'd all be ov-.

_[Dream was slain by Nightmare.]_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: graphic violence, beatings, stabbings, suicide (used as game mechanic)

-Hour 12-

Tommy continued to stare at the chat screen he had opened to confirm what he had just seen. In his ears was dead silence from the other Avatars as they also tried to process what each of them had seen in the local chat.

Dream had been killed in Pandora Dark.. by _Nightmare_?

Who was Nightmare?

"Wh.. wait that's..." Tommy began brokenly, tapping nervously at the name on the screen. "That's a **joke**! Dream was.. Dream's always making jokes that.. that his 'evil' self would be.. called Nightmare." He thought back to the trident in the prison locker, the crossbow, the netherite axe, the shield, tools and weapons, the full set of armor in Tubbo_'s 'vault'; all named _Nightmare_ , all to show Dream in the role of evil and cruel villain of the DSMP plot. "It's part of the story, we **wrote** this, we all decided on this, **he** started it by volunteering to be the villain so the rest of us.. we could be streamed and our Players would grow more. Why..?"

He didn't understand this. This didn't make _sense_.

 _"What happened? Was this an accident?"_ Awesamdude asked in a hushed tone to the others. _"Where is he going to respawn? The cell?"_

 _" **You** go to that box! The rest of us will keep going after Tommy; he must've gone up this way, the exit on the left,"_ Sapnap shot back. _"Tommy! Can you hear us?!"_

"Y-yeah," the blonde returned unsteadily, focus still on the words on the screen as he finally got his feet moving again, walking to the exit.

 _"What happened? You're closest to Dream's location right now, right?"_ George asked quietly. _"Did you see what.. what happened to him?"_

He didn't know, he didn't know, didn't see, because he was trying to catch his breath and thought everything was fine. But in Minecraftia, one can't let down their guard for long.. especially if one happened to be holding a chunk of Herobrine's source code in their body.

Fifty levels.. five deaths that could be paid for; Dream was killed, so if he respawned, he'd be down to forty levels.

"No, I'm sorry," Tommy muttered, "I only saw him get dragged into the next room. I didn't see what took him or what..." He couldn't bring himself to say it. Not when just hours ago they'd been passing time together with stories and writing and drawing and...

They both would have escaped together by now if he hadn't been so stupidly greedy...

Tommy rubbed new wetness from his cheeks as he reached the exit and stood before the dark maw. He could pass through, see what it was that killed Dream. He had to have respawned by now, right?

_[Dream was slain by Nightmare.]_

"What?! **No!** " Tommy blurted out in horror, "What the-?! _What the fuck?!_ "

 _"No! That's a second death! Awesam! Didn't he respawn in the cell? The system is supposed to take him back there if he dies in prison!"_ Sapnap yelled in anger.

 _"The system works if Minecraftia hadn't hijacked it! I don't know if it still has Dream linked to it! Obviously he's set to wherever that Nightmare thing is!"_ the Creeper King yelled back.

 _"Let's go! We don't have time to waste just standing here!"_ Techno snapped.

Hands tightening into fists, Tommy took a deep breath, then ran through the exit. Two deaths, Dream would be at thirty levels now. If this kept up.. his Core File would be destroyed.

Dream would be dead permanently if that happened.

The quest goal in the corner of Tommy's vision changed once he stepped foot into the next room; _Defeat Nightmare or Rescue Dream_. What did that mean? One or the other? Tommy looked around briefly. This room seemed to be the highest point in the dungeon, the heart of it; wide and lit with campfires lifted on pillars of blackstone brick surrounding a clear floor space of polished blackstone with polished basalt set in to create the image of a Creeper's face. A black bed was set on the floor and standing nearby it, in the center of the room...

Dream stood there, swaying from side to side in an odd little dance, a cheerful smile on his face. His clothes were different, though. Tommy approached slowly, puzzled by the way Dream was acting. He'd just died twice and his reaction was to change skins and dance? Weird.

"D-Dream? Are you okay there, big man?" he asked in confusion, stopping several feet away. The dirty blonde Avatar blinked at him, as if just now noticing the younger one had drawn close to the center of the room, then smiled at him, green eyes gleaming bright with humor.

"I'm doing just wonderfully, today, Tommy," Dream replied and clapped his hands together. "Say my name again, please."

Tommy gave him a strange look. What was with him? Why was he acting so sus? "Dream?" he said questioningly. Dream sighed happily, spreading his hands out as if to embrace the sound of it.

"Yes, that's me, who I should be," he whispered. Then he paused and flicked one hand, summoning a Battlestaff weapon into his grip. "Oh, hang on a second, Tommy. Gotta deal with this thing real quick."

Wait... Tommy jolted as he finally realized; Dream's hands, they weren't cuffed, no Minecraftia-forged gloves to deny access to any screens, menus, and Viral powers. Sure, he'd still be able to flick through the hotbar, but Dream also didn't have any weapons, he never had the chance to get any after he had completely emptied his inventory for his part of the prison script. But here he was unbound, with a weapon, and a new skin's outfit in black and gray, the smiley face on his shirt drawn in disturbingly scribbled red-orange lines, looking more twisted than cheerful.

'Dream' turned to face the bed, holding the staff back over his shoulder with both hands as if ready to swing it, much like how the Zombie Piglin swung its club with one hand. A figure of soft light appeared beside the bed, a respawn, and the light burst apart into little motes to reveal...

Dream, in his usual green clothes, hands cuffed together still because those things were outside of the normal rules of Minecraftia in order to keep him bound.

"Dream!" Tommy exclaimed, eyes wide as he looked between the newly respawned Avatar and his near-exact duplicate standing nearby. That wasn't DreamXD, and it wasn't Dream, but he looked just like the both of them!

"Tom-!" Dream managed to get out before the other Dream swung the staff around and landed a hard, solid hit to his back, throwing him forward and onto the floor with a pained cry. He struggled to get up, knees and arms bracing awkwardly against the floor, only to gasp as 'Dream' kicked him mercilessly in the stomach to knock him over and began ramming the heel of his boot over his body, any place that was unprotected.

"Stop! _Stop!_ What are you **doing**?! _You're killing him!_ " Tommy screamed, hands gripping his own hair in horror. The other Dream was laughing as he kept up the barrage of abuse, that familiar laugh so bright and iconic of Dream now sounding so warped coming from this version of him in black.

"That's the goal, Tommy!" that other Dream told him, still grinning while kicking and stomping the green-clothed Avatar curling up on the floor in attempts to protect himself. "I need this one dead. And I'm going to have so _much **fun**_ killing him every way I can think of..."

He should move, he should stop this, he had to go in and fight, why couldn't he move? Whywhywhy? Tommy's legs just refused to work. Was a status effect active? Why couldn't he-?

"How many levels do you have left, Dreamie?" the other Dream cooed, dropping to one knee and grabbing a fistful of dirty blonde hair to lift the Avatar's head, smiling wistfully as Dream coughed wetly. "I'm going to keep killing you until you run out. You can't have that much left to work with." He let go and stood back up, pressing his boot to Dream's head to keep it pinned. "Hey, Tommy?" he called out to get the boy's attention and Tommy didn't want to give it, but it was either that or he'd be locked onto the growing puddle of red around Dream's head and he wanted so badly to start the whole day over and just refuse his Player access for the stream.

"Y-Yeah?" Tommy stammered out, struggling to move forward. He had to stop this, had to do _something_ , but what could he do against another Dream? Did he also have the same knowledge in pvp? In traps and tactics?

"Think of this as an audition!" the other Dream declared, spreading his hands open as if to put everything on display in the context of a show. "I've been keeping up with the DreamSMP plot, tracking where this little green bastard pops up most so I could hunt him down, but ever since you guys plunked him in here, it's been much easier. Thank you, Tommy." He rocked his boot a little, grinding the heel into Dream's head and ignoring the whimpers of pain it drew from him. "I'm just letting you have a peek at what I'm capable of; I can make a really good villain character, a perfect evil Dream for story purposes," he went on with a smile. "Of course, outside of roleplay, there are going to be some changes to the relationships between me and all the rest of you in the SMP territory. Namely, you serve **me** , not the other way around."

" _Excuse_ me?" Tommy spat out in sudden irritated confusion. Oh, that's good, much better, push the fear and the terror aside for now, hide the trauma, hide it hide it.

"Hold that thought," the other Dream told him cheerfully, then brought his heel down onto Dream's head as the other Avatar cried out.

_[Dream was slain by Nightmare.]_

Twenty levels. Two safe respawns remain.

" _You're_ Nightmare?!" Tommy screamed, hands up to his face as he stared in horror at where Dream lay unmoving on the floor for the brief moment it took for his death to register. Then his body vanished in a cloud of data and particles, yellow-green orbs of experience jingling as they spilled over the blackstone and basalt.

"I'm _Dream_ ," Nightmare told him coldly, "But yes, I'm also Nightmare, since Minecraftia still refuses exact same names to exist in the same plane at the same time. So I had to take another for now. This is **temporary**." He gestured towards the black bed, "Once I kill **that** Dream permanently, I'll take his place. **I** was supposed to be Clay's Avatar anyway. I AM Dream."

 _"What keeps **doing** that?! Tommy! What's going on?!"_ Sapnap yelled into the call in growing panic.

Tommy swallowed hard, flicking his hand to the glaive and gripping it as he also drew out another god apple to eat. Nightmare shifted his weight aside, resting one hand on a hip as he watched him with a wry grin.

"Oh come on.. _you're_ going to try and fight me? What's that line again? 'You and me, Tubbo, versus Dream'? Now it's just Tommy versus Dream; you're not going to win against **me** ," the other Avatar told him. He gestured to himself with his free hand, having put the staff away. "I'm the Dream who's tired of playing nice with others and allowing people to use him as some pretty face for clout and free rides to success. I'll kill you just as easily as I'm killing that other Dream." He paused, blinking rapidly in surprise, then broke into a beaming smile, bringing his hand up to his cheek. "Oh! I can do something better than kill you!" Nightmare exclaimed with a laugh and let green eyes flicker magenta briefly. "I'll just _change_ your mind in how you treat me. And through you, I'll change your Player," he purred. "Manipulation of the greatest kind. Then we'll all get along like we should, as one big happy family."

"Dream wouldn't do that," Tommy growled as footsteps of multiple Avatars finally sounded behind him. God, how long did it take them to catch up? Ages and ages now.

"Once the Artifacts recognize me as the one true Dream, I will," Nightmare replied, flicking his hand to a gleaming netherite sword. "I mean.. I really don't see why you're upset. I'm giving the people what they want; a Dream who _doesn't_ care about.. about anyone but _power_. Beloved and hated in the same breath, a beautiful contradiction."

"Is that.. Dream?" Awesamdude questioned in confusion, "How did he get a netherite sword in here?"

"That's **not** Dream, that's Nightmare!" Sapnap growled, "He's the Artificial Avatar the Disillusioned created to try and make their Perfect Vaccine bullshit by experimenting on a copy of Dream's Core File!" He stepped forward, standing by Tommy and gripping his axe in his hand. "What did you do with Dream, the **real** Dream?!"

"I **am** Dream!" Nightmare fumed, glancing towards the bed as the figure of light took shape by it again. "I will be the ONLY Dream once I'm done killing your pretty little clout farm."

The bed.

Tommy's mouth parted in understanding. Nightmare had Dream pulled from the cell and brought here to change his respawn location and make it easier to kill him without any witnesses to discover that he'd taken over in place of Dream. If he could just break that bed before Dream was killed again...

Nightmare lifted the sword, smiling widely as he stepped towards the figure by the bed. "Get him!" Sapnap yelled, charging forward with the axe as Awesamdude, George, and Techno rushed in as well, moving to form a wall of blades between Dream and Nightmare. Left behind, Tommy ran towards the green-clothed Avatar, who just collapsed in place once the respawn was complete and curled up, covering his head with still-cuffed hands.

"C'mon, Dream! I take it back! Don't lay there and look pretty! Get up!" he urged, shaking Dream by the shoulder. Green eyes peeked out at him in surprise and the older Avatar carefully uncurled himself, sitting up while still huddled in on himself. His expression was haunted, and Tommy imagined that's what his Player looked like during the part of the script where he realized he was 'trapped' in Pandora's Vault with Roleplay Dream, the villainous manipulator. That distant gaze of someone desperately trying to escape his situation even if it meant mentally abandoning his body to the whims of his abuser.

He hated how he was absorbing that knowledge and sending it to his Player via the soul-link, even as he reached out and carefully cupped Dream's face in his hands. "Dream," Tommy said again, voice trembling but as even and clear as he could get, "I'm going to get us out of here. We can't fight that guy. He's too strong for us. If I had my gear, I'd kick his ass, but we're here, we're broke bitches, and we don't have enough levels between us for an epic fight, you hear me, big man?" He risked a look back over his shoulder at the fighting, at Nightmare dancing around many of the strikes being lashed his way, being pushed further and further away from them. Every now and then, another set of green eyes locked onto his, familiar smirk displayed with them. "Look, they're holding him back. We're safe. Soon as I break this bed..."

"He's _me_ , Tommy. They're not pushing him back," Dream cut in with a hollow voice, shoulders slumping, "He's leading them away." His eyes regained focus, fixed on the younger blonde. "Run. You can't fight him; not like this." With that, he stood up, hands tugging on the cuffs in a vain attempt to snap the chain.

"Whu... Leading them away?" Tommy echoed in confusion, looking back and forth between Dream and the crowd of Avatars flanking Nightmare in a half-circle, cutting off any direction he could run in. Dream took a deep breath, face pale and expression still full of dread as he readied himself to run. Tommy felt a prickle in his gut, not guilt this time, but of something telling him that he needed to act. Whatever plan he had, now was the moment to act on it.

The oppressive air in Pandora Dark, it gathered around Nightmare, the laughing maniac with Dream's face, and pressed on everyone around him, sank into Tommy as the young Avatar quickly leaped onto the bed.

_[Respawn point set.]_

Okay, that part was done. Next, break the bed. Tommy flicked his hand to his gauntlets, pulled them on, and began punching at the bed. "C'mon, break, break, break!" he chanted desperately. The sounds of blades crashing against each other caught his attention as he kept punching. He glanced up just in time to see Nightmare reveal an Ender Pearl in his free hand, throwing it through a gap in the wall of Avatars holding him back.

Oh.

 **That's** why Dream didn't believe they were safe.

The 'vwip' of Ender Pearl teleportation sounded and Tommy screamed in a panic at seeing Nightmare appear before him. Dream moved to dart aside, but hesitated, looking back at Tommy in fear.

_'No, move, Dream, **move**!'_

Dream's eyes widened as he gasped, the netherite blade sliding cleanly through his chest and out his back when Nightmare rushed him. The darker Avatar held him close as if in a hug, smiling at Tommy over Dream's shoulder as the other blonde slumped in place. "Hi, Tommy. What do you think you're doing?" he greeted cheerfully. He twisted the sword, smiling wider at Dream's pained whine. "You're such an annoying brat, aren't you, Tommy? That's why no one actually _likes_ you."

"And you're a jealous bitch acting like Dream stole your man when he ain't never been yours to begin with," Tommy shot back, brave words to hide the tremble in his hands as he swiped open his inventory. Nightmare hummed, shoving Dream away from himself and off his sword. The other Avatar collapsed to the floor, clutching at the rapidly spreading patch of red over his chest and coughing up blood in terrifying amounts. Tommy stared down at him in silent horror, hand slowly withdrawing a pair of items from his inventory into his hotbar.

"I told you.. he was always meant to be **mine** ," Nightmare growled, spinning the sword in his hand to point downward and then plunging it into Dream's body a second time.

_[Dream was slain by Nightmare.]_

Sapnap's howl of rage distracted the dark-clothed Avatar, who now spun in place to dodge a small barrage of fireballs thrown at him from the furious ravenet as the other Avatars broke formation to run at Nightmare and attack again. One respawn left, ten levels; if Tommy didn't break this bed right now...

He got back to punching, keeping an eye on Nightmare's movements as he dodged the fireballs from Sapnap and parried blades from Techno, George, and Awesamdude. "Break, break, break, break faster!" Tommy muttered desperately. The figure of light formed beside the bed and he swore under his breath viciously. By the time the bed broke, the light burst apart to let Dream respawn.

"How many **fucking** levels do you **have**?!" Nightmare roared, darting around Techno and running for Dream, flicking his hand to switch weapons from the sword to a pair of sickles with green blades shimmering slick as though coated with liquid. "I'm going to rip your goddamn Core File out of your body and grind it under my heel like the piece of shit you are!"

Tommy jumped at Dream, wrapping one arm around the fear-frozen Avatar in a hug, flicking his hand to the Splash Potion of Instant Damage and hiding it behind his back. As Nightmare drew close, sickles raised for slashing across Dream's body, Tommy slammed the potion down between all three of them, crying out in pain as acidic pain washed over him, skin burning from contact with the liquid. Dream and Nightmare both screamed, twin wails of agony as the three Avatars fell over onto the floor. Struggling to get up, Tommy flicked to the next splash potion, glaring at Nightmare as the evil 'Dream' pushed himself up and turned to face him.

A terrified expression met his, and Tommy blinked, momentary confusion making him falter as he held the potion up in his hand. Nightmare's eyes flicked to it, then back at him, still frightened. Why? Why was he so scared now?

Was Nightmare afraid to die? Did he not have the levels to pay for a respawn?

Or was this a manipulation tactic?

Tommy drew his arm back as though to throw the potion at him and Nightmare raised fingers to his own ear. "Bail me out! Bail, bail!" he exclaimed and he suddenly vanished, teleported away just as Tommy slammed the potion down onto the blackstone, the sound of glass shattering echoing loudly over the panicked cries of the other Avatars rushing towards them.

_[TommyInnit was killed by TommyInnit using magic.]_

_[Dream was killed by TommyInnit using magic.]_

-Spawn-

Light drifted away in shimmering pearls that faded out of existence. Tommy watched them float off lazily, wakefulness returning to him bit by bit as he lay on the grass at the SMP territory's spawn point, a mess of different blocks arranged in a haphazard wall nearby. Beside him, Dream lay half-curled on the ground, still asleep and with bound hands pulled up by his face.

The sky was growing lighter as dawn broke over Minecraftia, soft pink fading into soft blue, clouds drifting just as lazily across the wide expanse. Sweet smelling grass laden with dew drops tickled at Tommy's cheeks and dampened the sleeves of his shirt. He inhaled deeply, smiling at the scent of open air and flowers.

Soft rustles of cloth over grass sounded, and the young Avatar turned his head to see who it was, blinking at the sight of DreamXD hovering over the grass nearby, grinning down at him.

"Hey. Thanks for looking after my idiot brother," the Sysop Avatar told him and gestured before himself to open a command screen, typing out on the keyboard that appeared at his fingertips. A soft glow wrapped around Tommy and Dream after a moment.

_[DreamXD gave 20 experience levels to TommyInnit.]_

_[DreamXD gave 50 experience levels to Dream.]_

"There, that should be enough of a buffer for now. You'll have to earn anything more over that." DreamXD pulled his legs up as though sitting in mid-air and rested his chin in one hand, enjoying the breeze as Tommy sat up and opened his inventory, pouting at the loss of all his items and armor. "You should be thankful you dropped those items," Dream's twin pointed out smugly, "or I'd have to punish you for having them along with Dream for making them."

"Okay, but look, **I** held my own against Nightmare in that death hell box of a prison, shouldn't I get a reward for that?" Tommy countered, scrambling up and pointing in the direction of Pandora's Vault. "And it **was** hell in there, we were trapped for _hours_ , it was practically **torture** in there, Dream straight up got _murdered_ like five different ways, **I** think we're due to some monetary compensation, mm?!" He flashed his eyebrows at DreamXD, hands spread as though to receive items.

"Why don't you take those cuffs off of Dream for me and then we'll talk?" the older Avatar returned with a lazy smile. "Since you escaped the prison with him, Minecraftia accepted the defeat and reverted Pandora Dark to its Vanilla form as well as unlocked the cuffs."

"Oh! Right, gotcha," Tommy said in surprise, turning to the other blonde and fiddling with the handcuffs. The bands opened at just a touch of his hands on them, disappearing in a flicker of data along with the metallic gloves to be relocated wherever the world sentience decided to drop them. "Now that that's done.. about that compensation for trauma and violation of my rights?" Tommy went on, turning back around and blinking at DreamXD's disappearance.

His mouth dropped open and he threw his arms up in frustration. "Oh come **on**! At least some diamond blocks would have been nice!" he exclaimed as Dream stirred behind him. "I bet you'd give them to Gogy if he asked, hm? Hmmm?! Ol' Gogy gets _all_ the Dreams simping over him.. I bet Nightmare would be a Gogy simp if he stopped trying to murder us all long enough to see him standing there with those stupid glasses on his face."

Dream's sudden laughter behind him made Tommy jump and spin on his heel to blink down at him. "Oh. My. _Gosh_. That was a pretty clutch move you pulled back there, Tommy!" the older Avatar praised, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Saved us both from the prison **and** chased Nightmare off. That was pretty slick."

"Yeah, cuz I'm me, Big Tommy, with a genius IQ of.. whatever's higher than yours!" Tommy declared, planting his fists on his hips and puffing out his chest.

"Right," Dream said in good humor, rubbing at his wrists. "Well, since you made us ditch Awesam, George, and the others in the prison, how about we go meet them there?"

"Oh, good idea. Then I can lodge a complaint about our accommodations with Awesam," Tommy agreed with a decisive nod and the two began walking together towards the path that would lead to Pandora's Vault.

For now, the dark had passed to light, and Tommy proved himself the hero on his own, with knowledge gained from his friends and growing confidence in himself.

End


End file.
